Republic of Srpska

"Republika Srpska" redirects here. For the Yugoslav Wars enity, see Republika Srpska (1992-1995).

Republic of Srpska Република Српска
Flag Coat of arms
Republika Srpska (red) in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Capital and largest city	Banja Luka
Official languages	Serbo-Croatian
Dominant mode of production	Capitalism
Area
• Total	25,053 km²
Population
• 2020 estimate	1,136,274

The Republic of Srpska, also known as Republika Srpska, is one of two regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina along with the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia.

History

Bosnian War (1992–1995)

Radovan Karadžić, the first president of Srpska, proposed allowing majority Serb areas of Bosnia to stay in Yugoslavia. He appointed many communist officers even though he was not a communist himself.

Post-Dayton agreement (1995–present)

The West then forced him out of office and replaced him with the monarchist Biljana Plavšić who purged over 100 leftist officers from the army. Carlos Westendorp, NATO's colonial representative in Bosnia, approved Plavšić's nomination of Milorad Dodik as premier and deployed troops around the Interior Ministry to intimidate the government.

In 1997, with Western support, Plavšić dissolved the People's Assembly while appointing monarchists to her staff. In August of that year, NATO began seizing police stations and installing new police officers trained by the West. At the same time, NATO troops took over radio and TV stations and teargassed protestors.

In September 1998, despite NATO interference, the anti-imperialist Nikola Poplašen won the presidential election. NATO tried to make him appoint Dodik as prime minister, and Westendorp overthrew him when he refused. On the same day, NATO gave the city of Brčko, which connected the two halves of Republika Srpska, to the Federation of Bosnia, preventing Serb troops from moving between the two halves of Srpska without NATO permission.